best swimming pools!

[jcemom]

Which offsite hotels have the best pools? (No condos or timeshares, just hotels, please.)

Are there any hotels with a pool to rival the Disney resort pools? Any cool theming? Waterslides? Waterfalls? Anything?

My boys are 9 and 10. We are currently booked at HIFS, which I will keep if I don't find anything better. But I just checked out the 360 view thing on their website, and the pool doesn't look all that great to me. (Maybe for younger kids.)

Any and all opinions/suggestions welcome!

 

[A Mickeyfan]

My daughter loved the "snake" slide at the Sheraton Safari Hotel. I have also heard that the pools at the MOWC were really nice ( I cannot comment because I haven't stayed there). The Swan & Dolphine have a pretty good pool too.

 

[seastar]

The pool at the new JW Marriott is great. My DD's loved it-we spent alot of time in it. It is 4 pools (or bays as they call it)
connected by a lazy river. There were waterfalls and bridges but no waterslide. The employees squirt kids with water guns as they go around. One of the pools is a zero-depth entry. On Saturday nights they have a "Dive-In Movie".

 

[susy]

What is JW Marriott??? Is there a website?

 

[Steve P]

I give top honors to Hyatt Grand Cypress with Marriott Orlando World Center 2nd. Both have watefalls, grottos and slides but HGC wins because it's pool meanders thru a cave. Very cool. These 2 beat just about every Disney Lodging pool, including Dolphin/Swan, except for maybe stormalong - YC/BC. The JW Marriott may be among the upper crust but I havent seen it yet. Whatever you do, stay away from Gaylord Palms, the pools are a non-event compared to the rest of the resort.

 

[jcemom]

Thanks for the great ideas! What would we all do without the DIS?!?

 

[seastar]

JW Marriott is a new luxury hotel near Seaworld. It shares 500 acres with the new Ritz Carlton. We stayed at the JW and loved it.
I'll bump my trip report. The website is www.Marriott.com

 

[bethinks2]

We stayed at the HIFS and the pool was NOTHING special. My kids (10 and 16) were very disappointed-they didn't even want to swim in the HIFS pool. Every summer we try different pools in neighboring towns if we hear the town has a neat pool, so my kids have high standards on what they like in a pool. I personally did not like the HIFS because of the roach I found crawling across the tv screen---and no, it was not the Orkin Man tv commercial they did awhile back. It was literally inside the protective screen of the tv and the tv's glass so I couldn't even kill it!! I also thought HIFS smelled-literally and the breakfast buffet -we skipped when we saw it. Of course lots of people have had a different experience and love the HIFS but we would never recommend it or stay again. We have also stayed at the Marriott World Center and the pool is AWESOME! That is my kid's all time favorite pool. This March, we are going to try the new JW Marriott and I am hoping that my kids will enjoy the lazy river as much as they did the Marriott's slide and other neat stuff. Have a great trip!

 

[jcemom]

Thanks!